Reigning BTCC champion Colin Turkington went fastest in the second practice session at the season opening British Touring Car weekend at Brands Hatch, as BMR got three of its Volkswagen CCs inside the top four.

The Ulsterman left it until the dying stages to set a session-topping effort of 48.940s, after his BMR team-mates Aron Smith and Jason Plato had taken turns to lead the way in the final minutes.

Only West Surrey Racing's Andy Priaulx broke the Volkswagen monopoly atop the timesheets, the BTCC returnee coming within 0.066s of Turkington's benchmark and narrowly beating Smith to the runner-up spot by 0.080s.

Plato had to be content with fourth, 0.132s slower than Turkington, just ahead of former Triple Eight team-mate Sam Tordoff (WSR BMW), who had been quickest before the BMR charge began in earnest.

Adam Morgan's Mercedes rounded out the top half-dozen, just a thousandth of a second quicker than leading MG driver Jack Goff - who outpaced team-mate Andrew Jordan by two tenths.

Works Honda driver Gordon Shedden slumped to eighth late in the session having briefly led the way, ahead of Rob Austin's Audi and team-mate Matt Neal.

Morning pacesetter Tom Ingram was quick early on in the session when conditions were at their worst, but gradually fell down the order as the track dried. The Speedworks Toyota driver ended the session in 15th, seven tenths off the pace.